Ingrid, I took your advice and just did what the pattern told me and it ended up working out. Here's what I did:
I cabled the two stitches, knitted the next stitch AND THEN, purled the purl stitch from the cable needle (on the left remember) and pulled it off the cable needle from the wrong end. i.e. instead of pulling the stitch off the right end of the needle, I pulled it off the left end. Then I worked the knit stitch from the cable needle and pulled it off the right end. It was wierd, but it worked out!